


Phoenix

by redluna



Category: Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Moresomes, Multi, Sibling Incest, Threesome - F/M/M, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-16
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-26 19:21:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redluna/pseuds/redluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there were two children born the warlord's daughter instead of one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phoenix

No one needed to tell Nadiya how fortunate it was that she was still alive. Even the moment of her birth had been tinged with the threat of death. Her father was fond of recounting once he was deep enough in his cups (which was nearly always) how close he had come close to smothering her with a pillow when he saw that the child who had taken the life of his beloved wife was nothing more than girl. A girl had no purpose in a world like this. Not when her father needed an heir, a son that he could mold into the perfect soldier. It mattered not whether many of his own men remarked on the strength of his only child. Women, in her father's eyes, were frail creatures with hands meant to hold a needle and thread, not weapons.

The only reason she was kept alive was the promise held within her blossoming womanhood. She could produce an heir that would come from his blood. He had been in the process of picking through men with all the air of a breeder picking stock when she met Ra's for the first time. 

She couldn't say what it was that had made her fall for him so helplessly, yet she did not regret it. Why should she not be allowed to have her own moments of glowing happiness? Why should all others know pleasure save her?

Of course, it was not as though she did not expect there to be repercussions. Yet she had thought, no doubt foolishly, that she might still sway her father. Ra's was a good soldier, after all. Some might even say he was the best. Surely any child that came from him would be strong enough to thrive, especially once it connected with her own bloodline.

Yet there was no escaping her father's rage, his own roar drowning out her pleading refrain. He did not even object when she exchanged Ra's sentence for her own. Whatever care he might have had for her, if there had ever been any of it there, was gone now. She was dead to him, that was made perfectly clear.

The only reason why she was still allowed to draw breath above was because of the seed that had taken root within her womb. Her father would not take the chance of losing his final chance at an heir, tainted as that child might be in his eyes. His drive to covet was too great for anything else.

It was why she spent her months of confinement being feted like a princess even if she was a virtual prisoner. Even now there were women to bathe gently her with sponges soaked in perfumed water and clothe her in a gown so delicate that the fabric felt whisper soft against her skin. She didn't miss the wary looks exchanged when she demanded to hold her children. All were afraid that she might drop the precious heir, which was why she was not surprised when only her daughter was passed into her arms.

Her voice was cold with steel when she spoke again. "I do believe I asked for my _children_."

To her credit, the midwife only flinched the slightest of degrees. "My lady, you are still--"

Nadiya cut across her with a swift sharpness. "I am still nothing. And I will have my children." She didn't bother to withhold her scoff when the ladies still hovered after placing her son in arms as well. She flipped her hair back over her chair, laughing outright when the girls flocked around the one who had gotten whapped with her newly perfumed locks.

Her daughter looked as though she would dearly like to laugh along with her mother, but her little boy looked almost in awe of the sound. She found herself staring hungrily down into both of those little faces. She knew without having to be told that her daughter would be forced down into the Pit with her. Her father would not see this blessing for what it was. He would have no need for another girl so she too must be condemned. She, like Nadiya, would not be able to see her brother grow up, to enjoy a life with him as a family.

Nadiya clamped her lips down around a sob, determined not to cry before these strangers. Instead she dipped her head down to press her lips to the downy heads of each of her children. Her lips lingered against the crown of her son, however, speaking her words directly into the warm skin there, keeping them soft enough that there was not a chance for them to be overheard. "Remember who you are, my son. You were born of the strongest and truest love. That alone will give you power. For you shall carry that love with you, even if we are not here to share in it with you. Let it be your war cry."

She knew the moment had come from the way the atmosphere in the room shifted, the small hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. A lesser woman would have whimpered when she rose her head, yet Nadiya kept her armor firmly in place even as she crumbled inside. She addressed the men directly, staring straight into the face of the closest one. "You will serve him with the utmost honor and devotion." She would settle for nothing less, would crawl her way out of the Pit to fight for him if she had to.

"Of course." The man was bearded with an odd splash of color around his neck that set him apart from the rest. A scarf, Nadiya realized, fashioned out of red yarn. His tone sounded close to sardonic which was enough of a surprise even before he dropped to his knees before her. "What is his name?" he asked softly.

Nadiya blinked at this stranger, only now realizing that she had yet to name either child in her arms. Yet the name slipped free from her lips as though it had been waiting there poised on the tip of her tongue all along. "Robin. His name is Robin." Her son would have wings that would never be clipped. He would soar high above all the rest and perhaps one day he would swoop down into the darkness and save them.

"Robin." The man spoke the name with a weight close to the one that had echoed in her own voice and it was enough that she very nearly did not feel the wrenching pain when he took her boy from her arms, but only barely.

It did not take Robin long to realize he had been taken from the warm security of his mother's arms and placed in a stranger's, and he rebelled against such treatment immediately, showing off the full strength of his little lungs. And once he had begun his sister erupted as well, not at all pleased to have her brother no longer nestled in besides her. She had come out into the world with her brother's little hand wrapped tight around her ankle. She will not bear this separation without announcing to the world just how much she hates it.

Nadiya did not even realize she was crying as well until her tears began to drop onto her daughter's red, scrunched up face.

\---

Sophia was at her wits end. She had been hired (if you could call it that) to look after the child born in the estate that had towered over her town for her whole life. She had never imagined that tending to the local children along with the rest of the brood her mother kept supplying would refer her for such a job. Especially not when none of the other girls assigned to look after the child would ever listen to her, darting away to seek their own pleasures with the older soldiers, and the little lord himself would not stop crying.

She had checked his nappy multiple times (it was always dry) and tried to feed him but, although he would sometimes take it with a particularly grumpy expression, he would spit the bottle nub out before long. Burping him had about the same effect and he wailed so loudly that the lullabies she tried to sing while rocking him could hardly be heard.

"Good God!" she snapped. "Whatever is the matter with you?"

"He does not know."

Sophia jolted backwards, her arms wrapping around the babe through pure instinct to shield him from possible danger. Yet it was only one of the soldiers standing in the doorway to the nursery. Actually, she was certain she had seen him lingering around the nursery far more than any of the others. There were plenty of men sent to guard the future heir, of course, but the men tended to operate on rotations. This one hardly seemed to ever leave.

She remained wary as he strode into the room, casting an eye around the nursery as though he were judging everything that was in it. "He knows he is sad, but he cannot understand why. He is too young. Yet he can still understand that the people who hold him are not his mother and there is no longer a little one like him at his side. It disconcerts him and he knows no other way to show his fear then through tears." He held out his hands, chuckling when Sophia jerked the child back from him. "I will not hurt him, that I can promise you."

Sophia cast a judging glance across him, taking in his whole measure. "Swear it," she said. "Swear it on something more important than your own life."

A shadow cast itself over the man's face. "I swear it upon the grave of my own child." 

Sophia was certain her face reflected the way her heart wrenched out towards him. She knew better than to ask how such a thing occurred, would never even think to question it. She could well remember how the glow of her mother's happiness had been snatched away, the bloodied sheets she'd been ordered to burn and the fragile body come too soon she had had to bury by herself, tears soaking into the soil. She extended the child out to him without a word.

The man inclined his head to her the slightest amount, a hint of a smile on the corners of his mouth as he took the boy. He bounced the child gently in his arms, making a sound more soothing than Sophia thought him capable of. "It is alright, Robin. You will have them at your side again one day. I swear that to you."

Sophia didn't realize her own hand had risen until she felt her fingers brushing against the soft curls already sporting from the top of the child's head. "He is right, Robin. You will have them again." She could not say what made her believe it. Perhaps it was the solemn tone in the man's voice, the way he spoke as though there was no reason why such a thing could not be true. "And until then you will have us. For we shall not leave until you cast us aside."

And as though in some sort of miracle, Robin's sobs slowly transformed into little whimpers, then hiccups, and then nothing at all. He sniffed instead, nose wrinkling in a way that was far too cute once he realized how clogged his nose had become.

"Don't worry, little prince." The man dipped his head down to press his lips to Robin's forehead. It was a moment that Sophia would never forget for he did it with all the reverence of one basking at the feet of a chosen deity. "I am Barsad and I will be your protector."

**Author's Note:**

> These are [Nadiya](http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/_assets/uploads/cropped/26137-rectangle.jpg) and [Sophia](http://www.theskinnystiletto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/freida-pinto-2.jpg) in case anyone is interested. (Nadiya is taken officially from the TDKR [cast list](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast))


End file.
